Coming off a weekend sweep of Boston College, the University of Maine men’s hockey team is hot, helped by contributions from its younger players.

But hot meets sizzling this weekend.

The Black Bears will be reintroduced to Boston University, which is ranked No. 2 in both major polls.

Maine (12-8-3, 9-7-2 in Hockey East) plays BU (15-6-1, 12-4-1) at 7 p.m. tonight and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Agganis Arena.

BU beat Maine 5-1 on Dec. 10. And now the Terriers are even better, despite losing two of their best players.

Forward Charlie Coyle left the team to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and forward Corey Trivino was kicked off the team after a Dec. 11 arrest on several charges, including indecent assault.

Nevertheless, the Terriers are 5-0 in 2012, including a dominating sweep of Providence last weekend, beating the Friars 6-1 and 8-0.

“Addition by subtraction sometimes. You never know,” Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said of BU’s improvement. “For whatever reason, they are playing their best hockey and are coming off an unbelievable weekend against a real good Providence team.

“We’ll have our hands full down there. We know that, but we’re excited.”

Maine features one of the best lines in the country, with Spencer Abbott, Brian Flynn and Joey Diamond.

But the game-winning goals last weekend came from junior Matt Mangene (set up by sophomore Mark Anthoine of Lewiston) and freshman Connor Leen (set up by sophomore Jon Swavely).

“I think we found our identity as a team,” Leen said. “A lot of guys have stepped into different roles. We’re coming together as a team.”

Whitehead shook up his second, third and fourth lines, which include four freshmen and two sophomores.

“All the freshmen gave us quality shifts (against Boston College),” said Whitehead, who also praised freshman defenseman Jacob Rutt of Scarborough.

“Jake Rutt was great back there,” Whitehead said. “Three games in a row he’s been a horse. He’s really emerging for us.”

Rutt is playing in front of sophomore goalie Dan Sullivan, who made some big saves when Boston College picked up the pressure last weekend.

BU counters with its own hot goalie. Senior Kieran Millan was named Hockey East defensive player of the week after stopping 62 of 63 shots against Providence.

This weekend could come down to the power play. BU and Maine rank 1-2 in the nation in penalty minutes. On the power play, Maine ranks second (33 of 111, 29.7 percent), and BU is fifth (28 of 117, 23.9 percent).

While the Terriers are No. 2 in the polls, they’re No. 1 in the Pairwise rankings, the system that is similar to the formula used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

“They’re one of the hottest teams right now,” Anthoine said. “The game (tonight) sets the tone.”

Maine, No. 20 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll, is 18th in the Pairwise rankings.

Since its loss to BU, Maine is 6-1-1.

“We’ve just got to keep this going,” Mangene said. “We know BU will be a difficult test.”

Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH

 

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